A Piltover Academy Student in Demacia (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 7: Decisions

"Do you care to explain exactly how yesterday's events came to be? How you have managed to avoid being dragged away and locked up by the Mageseekers, when all of us know that arrest and imprisonment are exactly how events should've unfolded?" Tianna Crownguard asked, her arms crossed as she paced the small room; the Crownguard estate in the Great City was little more than a larger-than-average house, a far cry from their estate in High Silvermere. "I'd have thought it nothing more but base bribery, impossible as it might seem to bribe the senior adept, until that... man placed his hand upon you. I have heard much of Adept Sylas and his... particular affliction." She shuddered at this statement.

Lux took a deep breath. She'd expected this interrogation, of course; Aunt Tianna had likely come to the Citadel of Dawn with no other intention that to ensure Lux came to no harm while she was escorted away by the Mageseekers (or that Lux didn't try anything foolish like fighting or fleeing; Tianna Crownguard made no secret of her fierce devotion to the reputation of their house). Even if the woman was the most unflappable person Lux had ever known (and she truly was, by a wide margin), there was only so much surprise one person could bear, and events had clearly exceeded her aunt's threshold of tolerance.

"Aunt, I believe I've found a way to remove my magic, to make myself as mundane as any other citizen," she said. Tianna stopped her pacing, staring at Lux intently.

"That's impossible, child. Magic can be nullified, certainly, but to be entirely removed," she said. "How would you even accomplish such a feat? What would be the methodology? Petricite would be necessary, I am certain, but is it a concoction? I doubt it's merely a Graymark, unless you've found a way to increase its potency while maintaining a compact size."

"It's a Hextech device, if you must know," Lux said, frustrated. It was such a quintessentially Tianna Crownguard reaction: condescendingly dismiss Lux's statement, belittling her, then try to validate it on her own as if only she could fathom such a concept.

"Of course I must know, Luxanna, and don't dare be flippant with me," Tianna said, matching Lux's own frustration, the intimidation amplified by her large, armored frame. "How can an inherently magical device render you without magic? And how in the name of all that is sensible in this world could it escape the scrutiny of three highly competent Mageseekers, one of whom possesses a foolproof method of detection?"

"I don't know how it works, not precisely. I wasn't the one to devise it," Lux said. "But it works, as you've seen."

"You don't even know what it does? Do you know if it has side effects, any inherent risks to your health? Luxanna, of all the foolhardy actions you've ever taken—"

"So I should've just let them take me then!?" Lux yelled. She couldn't remember ever raising her voice to her aunt; by the sudden pause in the woman's berating, her aunt couldn't recall such an event ever happening either. "I should've just let them lock me away for the rest of my life while everyone else moved on and forgot about me?! Well I'm so very sorry that I chose to find a way to save myself instead! Guess I'm still the family burden for a while longer!"

Lux turned away, screwing up her face, clenching her fists in the effort to not cry; she'd not break down in front of her, she'd rather die than give her the satisfaction. She wished Garen was with her, or her mother and father, or... or...

"Luxanna," Tianna said, in a tone many degrees softer than Lux had ever heard the woman use; still not truly soft, but most of the cold steel was stripped away from its tone. It wasn't the disdain of the High Marshal, nor the reprimand of of a prominent figurehead of House Crownguard; it was the concerned, measured tone of an aunt. "I respect the decision to stand and fight, I truly do. I am overjoyed that you have been spared such a bleak fate... but I'm frightened of what the cost of your freedom might be. Are you certain this... device is safe for you to use?"